From left: Viggo Mortensen, director Peter Farrelly, Octavia Spencer, and Mahershala Ali before the screening of “Green Book” at the Toronto International Film Festival. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)

Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book” won the People’s Choice Award on Sunday at the Toronto International Film Festival. The movie stars Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali and follows an Italian-American bouncer who is hired to chauffeur a black classical pianist though the racially segregated South of the 1960s.

Farrelly was raised in Rhode Island and attended Providence College. Along with his brother Bobby, Farrelly has written, directed, and produced several comedy films including “There’s Something About Mary,” “Dumb and Dumber,” “Shallow Hal,” and the classic Red Sox rom-com “Fever Pitch.”

Toronto’s People’s Choice Award is one of the most closely watched of the fall festival circuit. In the past decade, every winner has scored a best-picture nomination at the Academy Awards.